North Hunterdon girls coast into tri-county basketball semis

South Hunterdon High senior Kelly Albanir, here battling for possession Jan. 21 against Burlington City, poured in 55 points during the Eagles’ three games last week. They won two of them to bring a 12-11 record into this week’s action. ( (Photo by George Pacciello/staff photographer))

Besides winning a Hunterdon/Warren/County Tournament game, North Hunterdon High also had an opportunity to get everyone plenty of court time Saturday afternoon.

After bolting to a big lead right off the opening tip, the Lions were able to put it in cruise control as they breezed to a 48-36 quarterfinal-round triumph over visiting Vernon Township.

“We had a lot of kids play today,” said NHHS Head Coach Tom Hank. “It was good. Our starters played their share of minutes, we got them out and the other kids got a chance to play. The score was a lot closer than the game really was.”

Top-seeded in the Hunterdon-Warren bracket, the Lions (18-4) were in front 19-2 midway through the second quarter and were able to take their foot off the pedal after that en route to their 10th straight triumph. Fifteen Lions got into the game and 10 scored, led by senior guard Jessica Pellechio’s 13 points and senior forward Imani Martinez’s 10.

Mallory Costello, a 5-foot-10 forward, had 15 points and nine rebounds for Vernon (11-9), seeded No. 4 in Sussex, and the Vikings’ next-leading scorer had five. The Lions downed Vernon 49-30 in last year’s tri-county event.

“We knew them from last year, and that Costello was their only starter back,” said Hank. “They didn’t have the guards they had last year. So before the game we just viewed the tape and saw they were doing basically the same things as last year, and we figured we just needed to play our style of basketball, and we did.”

Pellechio scored six of NHHS’s first 11 points, including two steals she turned into fast-break layups. The Vikings committed eight of their 21 turnovers during the opening quarter and of the 10 shots the Lions blocked in their zone defense, Martinez and Alissa Tarsi had four apiece.

The Lions’ Jill Bellofatto had six points and Stephanie Zengel five and sophomore reserve forward Allison Lane snagged a team-high five rebounds besides also blocking a shot. NHHS was up 28-11 at halftime and then outscored the visitors 18-9 in the third period.

Next up for North Hunterdon in the tourney is Saturday’s noon home semifinal meeting with Phillipsburg, which eliminated Kittatinny 55-39 for its 17th victory in 20 outings. The winner takes on the High Point-Delaware Valley survivor for the championship Friday, Feb. 24 at Phillipsburg High.

The Lions are seeking their first H-W-S tourney title, having been upset in the semifinal round by Voorhees in 2010 and falling to High Point 49-38 in the final a year ago.

But Hank, a few hours following Saturday’s game, was much more concerned with this past Tuesday’s battle against Gill St. Bernard’s in a crucial Skyland Conference-Delaware Division matchup. The Lions defeated GSB 73-63 in double overtime Jan. 13 in their initial meeting and, entering this week, that still was the Knights’ only Delaware loss while North Hunterdon was unbeaten in league play. A North victory Tuesday could have wrapped up the division championship.

“We’re more worried about Gill St. Bernard’s right now,” said Hank. “That’s the next thing we have to deal with. That should be a barn-burner again, and then it’s Franklin (tonight). So it’s one step at a time.

“Our ultimate goal is always the state tournament but it’s great basketball this time of the year with the pressure-packed games. The whole idea is to survive and advance. So hopefully we’ll win Saturday and play again (for the tri-county crown) the following Friday. But right now it’s all about Gill, another Top-20 team on our schedule.”

North Hunterdon 44, Hillsborough 35 — One of the weakest teams in the Skyland-Delaware Division, Hillsborough (7-12) put up quite a battle against the visiting Lions Thursday before NHHS claimed the victory.

Jessica Pellechio canned four three-point buckets and totaled 22 points, including nine in the opening period, for NHHS and Alissa Tarsi added 14. The Lions were up by a point after the first stanza, led 27-23 at halftime and took a 33-28 lead into the final quarter.

Delaware Valley 55, South Hunterdon 43 — Shannon Croasdale had 14 points, Grace Guggenheim had 12 along with five assists and Taryn Mikulicz sank a trio of three-pointers for nine points Thursday to lead the host Terriers past South Hunterdon (12-11) in a Skyland inter-division game.

DelVal took an 11-point first-period lead and then, helped by 11 Croasdale points, blitzed SHHS 15-5 in the next session to build a 31-10 cushion. Kelly Albanir (15) and Chelsea O’Neal (12) were in double figures for SHHS.

Nutley 59, Voorhees 40 — The Vikings, who lost for the seventh time in their last eight games, were ahead by a point following the opening quarter Thursday before Nutley (14-4) gradually pulled away for the inter-conference triumph in Essex County.

Allison Davis topped VHS (7-13) with 17 points and Kelly Reilly added 10 but the Raiders were in front 38-31 before outscoring Voorhees 21-9 during the final period.

North Hunterdon 57, Ridge 35 — NHHS blitzed the visitors (4-16) from Bernards Township 24-0 in the opening quarter and coasted from there during the Feb. 7 Skyland-Delaware meeting. A dozen Lions got into the scoring column, paced by Imani Martinez and Jess Pellechio with 10 points apiece.

Jessica Dreswick added nine points and Danielle Andre eight for Central, which held a 23-15 halftime advantage. Allison Davis had 10 for the Vikings, Amanda Ocello and Chelsea Landry scored eight apiece and Kelly Reilly contributed five rebounds, four assists, three steals and a blocked shot.

South Hunterdon 49, Manville 33 — Host Manville (5-14) held a 27-25 halftime lead Feb. 7 before the Eagles enjoyed a 12-4 third period to take command of the game. Kelly Albanir had 23 points for SHHS, followed by Brett Lelie (13) and Devin Conlin (two treys for six points).